The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1887-02-22
Silver


kings o. the earth sought his presence
to hear his wisdom. And they brought
every man his present. vessels of sill
yer. vessels Of gold, and raiment. har
ness. spices, horses and mules. ndte
y61~ b. gar he had 1000 stalls for
horses and chariots, and $4,000 horse
men He reigned over all the kings,
from the river to the land of the Phil
isfines, and to the border of Egypt,
The King made silver in Jerusalem
as stones. and they brought unto Solo
mon horses out OF Egypt and out OF
al lands q Chron. ix).
The King bought a chariot IN
Egypt for 600 shekels of silver about
ESQ sterling). and q horse for 150
shekels. or about twenty gulneas Y
Chron- !. IN. Probably this was a
state carriage OF elaborate design and
costly material. ike our Queens state
carriage. and this horse IN particular
was OF high pedigree, Whether the
carriage was drawn by this one horse
only Is not recorded But certain 1t
Is that II was state carriage, and the
horse an attractive animal for ps
geantry.
But il Is with Solomon's sil0er with
which we have now TO do. King Ds
Nd. 1t appears, prepared for the
House Of the Lord a thousand thous-
and talents OF (crude) silver Il Chron.
xii IA. and afterwards for the same
purpose seven thousand talents of n
.1Eed siIrsr xxx. a. Almost every
school child has read this, or has been
told CT II over and over again. dd adu-
SaaHi. without attaching any particular
value TO It A few may have gone as
far as TO compare II with million
OF money without IN the least know
ing what q Willi0a means. Here, II Is
true. we have million talents OF sill
yer spoken Of IN q very ordinary way;
and i Is not az all surprising. mas
much Is Il Is implied that solomon
made silver common as stone IN Jeru-
salem.
Taking q talent OF silver as weigh
ing 5000 shekels. and the shekel as
worth three shillings. we make the
silver talent worth $50. and a mill
ion talents therefore worth s450.000.-
600 sterling. Now. adding TO this
large amount the 700 talents of re-
fined silver. which may safely be val
ued at three million sterling. we have
the enormous amount of $4,000, 600.
which would weigh more than $50.
100000 pounds troy. Now, If we add
this silver value of 453 millions to the
gold value, say. 595 millions. we have
the unprecedented aggregate of more
than one thousand millions sterling
as belonging 10 one man The rest
Of the acts Of solomon and all that
be did. are they not written in the
book Of acts Of Solomon ? T"
This vast accumulation Of gold,
after reading the Biblical history of
Il. does not surprise me very much;
for # the kings and princes and tribes
and peoples Of extensive auriferous
districts set TO work with vii for
fifty years 70 please Kings David and
solomon by golden gifts, 1t could
have been much more easily done
than now, for virgin gold II the
rivers OF HaYilah and elsewhere, IN
der similar conditions. would have
held It's own. uninhuenced by oxida-
ton. for the longest period Of imagi-
nation almost.
But the natural wonderment may
be about the silver. for virgin silver
Is seldom or never TO be found IN run
ming streams. and silver sulphides
and other ores viii oNdise IN water
or by exposure to air Archbishop
Usher. Lenglet. and others estimate
that Selomon's Temple was founded
al Jerusalem $50 years after the de
iverance from Egypt. 10l2 B. c, and
solemnly dedicated Oct. 30, 1904 B. c.
This gives US only about 5000 years
to deal with. and during that period
there Is no historical evidence that
silver was found with the same facil
ity as virgin gold.
In fact, silver appears 10 have been
a rarer metal than gold. and that gold
took pre- -eminence IN value mainly
on account OF lis durability. It Is
moro than probable that silver ores
were found 5000 years ago much IN
der the same conditions as they are
now found. There Is no reason framed
70 the contrary. The inference. there
fore. to be drawn Is fairly this. that
the smelling OF lesd and copper ore
vas rudely and rather extensively
praetised. and silver extracted there
from more OF less richly. We read
that David prep brass "copper" IN
abundance Z l enron. xxx.
Earlier than this even we read Of
Ziliah's son. TuballCsin, who was an
instructor OF every artiicer in
brass and iran. 1t was he. probably,
who instructed his brother in-law Ju-
bal. who was the father Of all such as
handle the harp and organ (Gen. w..
Again We read IN the Old Book. He
Is Ike a rehner's fire.: )" and again,
= He shah sit as refner and purifier
OF silver (Eal- III.
Now. anybody who knows anything
shout refining of gold and silver
knows very well that the approaches
- - $780, ---l o---,,1l.,